A Usability Study of a Community College’s Testing Center Website

The purpose of this project was to design and evaluate website for a testing center at students at a community college in Hawaii. To design the website, the researcher applied principles of user-centered design to ensure the target audience—community college students—would be able to find information about the testing center quickly and easily. Using Gestalt principles, the website was designed to work to help students by being functional and user-friendly. To evaluate the website, a usability study was conducted with 18 (n = 18) college-aged adults. During the study, the participants completed three usability tasks designed to measure and found the website easy to navigate. The usability study evaluates the participants’ navigation, satisfaction, and interest. Data were collected through questionnaires and think aloud sessions. In addition, the usability study used the Design-oriented Evaluation of Perceived Usability (DEEP) framework to assess the website's navigation, content, structure, and labeling. Results from the study found that participants were satisfied with the website and felt it was easy to navigate. This presentation will discuss the project’s findings and make recommendations for future study.